Paul Ryan Hit with Investigative Action on Multiple Allegations

Paul Ryan Hit with Investigative Action on Multiple Allegations

A House Ethics Complaint against Speaker Paul Ryan has been filed for allegedly conspiring to allow Rep. Devin Nunes to violate his recusal from the House Intelligence Committee’s Russia probe. An image of the complaint, and the text from the complaint are below.

Below is the entire text from the ethics complaint…

Representative Paul Ryan is the Speaker of the House of Representatives. He is the leader of House Republicans. He is responsible for the actions of the Members of his Caucus. He is also responsible for disciplining them when he knows that they have broken House rules or acted in an unethical fashion or with an apparent conflicted interest.

On March 28, 2018 the Democratic Coalition Against Trump submitted a request to the Office of Congressional Ethics of the United States House of Representatives, asking that they investigate Representative Paul Davis Ryan, Jr. for the following reasons:

1. For silent complicity in allowing a subordinate member of his party, Rep. Steve King, to attack Parkland shooting survivor Emma González. On March 25, 2018 Representative King sent out a Facebook post with a picture of Parkland shooting survivor Emma González with the text “This is how you look when you claim Cuban heritage yet don’t speak Spanish and ignore the fact that your ancestors fled the island when the dictatorship turned Cuba into a prison camp, after removing all weapons from its citizens; hence their right to self defense.” Mr. Ryan’s inaction in the face of Mr. King’s defamatory words constitutes consent.

2. For conspiring to permit Rep. Devin Nunes to violate his freely given recusal from the House Intelligence Committee’s Russia probe, attack Robert Mueller’s probe, abuse subpoena powers, and to shut down the House Intelligence probe into Russia. Rep. Nunes has an apparent conflict of interest with the House Permanent Select Committee for Intelligence’s probe into Russian election attacks for his own role in the Trump Transition Team, as the committee examines the Trump Campaign, Transition and Administration’s role as beneficiary of Putin’s intelligence war against America’s democracy. Nunes is also conflicted by a long, personal relationship with a convicted felon, former National Security Advisor General Michael Flynn.

On June 1, 2017 Rep. Nunes ignored the public promise he issued on April 7th, 2017 to recuse himself from the Trump-Russia investigation by issuing subpoenas in that investigation. Furthermore, he failed to inform Democratic members of the House Intelligence Committee before issuing these subpoenas. Rep. Nunes violation of recusal not only blatantly disregards his public promise and conflicted interests, but also violates House rules, which requires that all Committee members be informed before subpoenas are issued. Speaker Ryan was complicit in let this happen silently under his watch. That same day, Speaker Ryan, through his spokeswoman, stood behind Rep. Nunes’ blatant abuse of power and misconduct. By allowing Nunes to retain the chairmanship, and the power to issue these subpoenas, the Speaker has failed to protect the integrity of the House Intelligence Committee and the purity of the investigation it is leading. [end of transcription]